


The Commander and the Thief

by onepageatatime715



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas, MAAS Sarah J. - Works
Genre: A Court of Thorns and Roses - Freeform, Angst, Canon Compliant, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Kissing, Mates, Tickling, a court of mist and fury, a court of wings and ruin - Freeform, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-11-02 10:39:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10942806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onepageatatime715/pseuds/onepageatatime715
Summary: This fic is set after the conclusion of ACOWAR – may contain some spoilers for ACOTAR/ACOMAF/ACOWAR.Also references some material from one of my other fics – “Of Ruin and Salvation”.All characters and names belong to Sarah J Maas.





	The Commander and the Thief

After the war, I had been broken. We had won the war, and Hybern was dead – by my hand - but I had lost my father, and a piece of myself. _I had lost_.

I had seen the concern on my sisters’ faces, but I had already begun to rebuild that wall around myself. To shelter my pain, fear and grief within myself, lest I hurt those around me. Those that I loved.

Then Cassian had all but shattered my walls when he took me up to the House of Wind, leaving behind his friends, who were celebrating the end of the war, to comfort me – and maybe, perhaps, himself.

And we had done far more than comfort each other that night – as we clung to one another, accepting the mating bond between us at last, we had forged something new. Something lasting. Something unbreakable.

So now, when I tried to build those walls around myself, I normally found Cassian inside them.

And if I ever tried to shut him out, we ended up like this.

“Nesta,” Cassian growled, prowling closer. He was regarding me like a wounded animal – or perhaps a wounded soldier. A commander, assessing his troops.

Or a mate, concerned for his partner.

“Go away Cassian,” I mumbled, remaining where I was, curled up in the bed. Where I had been since I had returned from the townhouse, my heart raw and my head clouded.

“You don’t get to shut me out,” Cassian growled, crawling onto the bed, his wings tucked behind him tightly. Carefully – tentatively even. And despite his growl, there was love and concern behind his words.

I didn’t push him off, but I didn’t move towards him either.

 _Sweetheart_ , Cassian murmured through the bond. I didn’t answer. He curled himself around me, one of his large, calloused hands brushing through my hair, while the other pulled my unresisting body against his, fitting me against his body. His wings closed around us too, until only we existed in the world.

 _Sweetheart, what happened?_ Cassian murmured again, sending love and concern down the bond simultaneously.

I could never resist him, not for long.

I turned so we were laying face to face, our noses nearly touching. Cassian moved his hand to my face, his callouses brushing again the softness of my skin roughly.

I couldn’t help but shiver.

“When I was at the townhouse, I – I got into a fight,” I whispered. Cassian tensed slightly, his nostrils flaring as he scented – as if he hadn’t already – for injury. “With Feyre,” I clarified.

Cassian relaxed slightly as he raised his eyebrows.

“We were bickering about my latest trip to the mortal lands. She wants me to deal with someone _besides_ Grayson, because apparently every time I come back, Elain scents him and she gets this “haunted look” for days, and “hasn’t she been through enough”?” I ranted, mimicking Feyre now and again.

“And?” Cassian asked quietly.

I blew out a gust of air. “And I told her that at least she’d have company than.”

Cassian drew his eyebrows together, waiting.

“Feyre – she walks around with this haunted look. Whenever Rhysand’s not there, it’s like she’s expecting to find out he actually dies that day. She’s irritable when he’s around, and impossible when he’s not…”

“Nesta, she _lost_ her mate,” Cassian murmured. “Even if it was just for a moment, he was gone.”

“ _I know_. I know what I said wasn’t right,” I whispered. “But it was after, when she said that maybe if I hadn’t been so withdrawn, so bitter, afterwards, that maybe none of it would have happened,” My voice broke then, and Cassian drew me closer.

“She blames me for his death,” I mumbled into his chest, tears flowing freely now.

“She does not,” Cassian’s voice rumbled. “She’s hurting, we’re all hurting, and you were there for her to lash out at.”

Cassian drew back slightly to meet her eyes, his own hazel ones dancing with concern. “No one blames you for a thing, sweetheart.”

And then he leaned down and kissed me, tenderly at first, then deeply, crushing my mouth against his, drawing me impossible closer to him.

I sighed into his mouth, savouring not only the taste of him, but the feeling – the feeling of being home. In his arms.

Cassian shifted slightly, and then –

“Cassian!” I yelped, surprise and indignation stripping away the last of my tears as he tickled me, a wicked smile on his face. I writhed on the bed as I tried to escape him, but his wings had me trapped.

 _Two can play at this game_ , I growled through the bond, before snaking my arms between his, to tickle him back.

Cassian yelped in response, his wings opening of their own volition then roared with laughter as I pinned him, tickling his sides mercilessly.

 _It’s a good thing Hybern never found out the Commander of our army was so damn ticklish,_ I drawled through the bond.

“Nesta,” Cassian gasped between his laughter, his eyes streaming with tears.

“Accept defeat?”

Cassian’s eyes lit at the challenge.

And as we wrestled on the bed, the walls I had been building crumbled.


End file.
